Harp and Carolina increase the accusations in the New Haven mayoral race

Mary E. O'Leary

Published 12:00 am, Thursday, July 11, 2013

NEW HAVEN >> The war of words between two of the mayoral candidates is heating up with Kermit Carolina charging that state Sen. Toni Harp is out of touch with her constituents.

Earlier this week, Harp said she felt "traumatized" by fear expressed by Newhallville residents she met while campaigning where two slayings occurred in the area of Division Street and Shelton Avenue.

They told her they were intimidated by young men loitering near known drug houses in the area. They said they were afraid for their children and didn't feel safe leaving home to shop or when they returned from work at night."People shouldn't have to live like that," Harp said of working mothers who already have hard lives.

Carolina asked how Harp, who has been a state senator for the past two decades, could be surprised by what she found.

"... the degree of her disconnectedness from what actually goes on in this city can only be described as mind-numbing. If she felt traumatized just walking down the street for five minutes ..., imagine how those who live on Division Street must feel each and every day," he said in a statement.

"These residents do not have the luxury of going to their respective 'party' houses in Bethany to get away form it all, as Senator Harp does," Carolina added. Harp's late husband, an architect, built a house in Bethany that has not been sold. Harp, who lives in New Haven, said occasionally her family uses the house for parties.

All five candidates for mayor have offered solutions to the violence from more intense community policing to youth centers with Harp recommending work study partnerships between schools and businesses so teens can get job experience in high school or earn certificates that lead to employment.

Jason Bartlett, campaign manager for Harp, didn't respond to Carolina's criticisms. "They are not worthy of a response. Obviously, we don't agree with any of them," he said.

Carolina, principal of Hillhouse High School, has always been critical of Harp, who has backing of many longtime party activists and is seen as the front-runner. But he stepped up his remarks after Harp took a stand backing a 160-day rule for all the city's high schools and incorrectly characterized graduation rates under Carolina.

The 160-day rule has been described as a policy where students would not get credit and advance to the next grade if they were absent more than 20 days in a given year with exceptions for medical conditions or serious circumstances.

It had been in effect at Hillhouse High School for a number of years - but at no other schools - when Lonnie Garris was principal there before Carolina took over starting in the 2010-11 school year.

The New Haven school policy says a student may be retained in a grade with an absence of 20 days or more days, but it's not a requirement.

Carolina has said he dropped the rule, but after an interview with Garris it appears the two men are not that different in how they treated students who missed school.

The issue of absenteeism came up last year as part of Floyd Dugas' report, which looked into alleged grade transcript tampering at Hillhouse regarding student athletes, one of whom Carolina promoted despite missing 45 days. Carolina is appealing a three-day suspension tied to the report.

There is no district-wide policy on absenteeism for city schools; the student handbook lists various things that kick in as missed school days mount up. School spokesperson Abbe Smith said every effort is made to try to rectify the situation through parental notification to home visits by prevention workers and school hearings before a student goes to truancy court.

"It was born out of necessity, and it was an excellent policy. At Hillhouse we had an attendance rate about 85% percent, and when I implemented the rule there was a 10% jump that lasted and was sustained for over five years," Garris said in a statement.

"We can do better and our kids deserve better," Harp said in a statement. "We can implement a 160-day rule that keeps our kids in school and keeps them on track to graduate. Not every absence is truancy, but struggling parents should get the support they need to make their sure their kids are in classrooms. We need to show that we're using the best policies and that they work for all of our kids. Every child deserves a fair chance."

In the release, Harp's campaign said graduation rates plummeted when Carolina took over and dropped the 160-day rule in 2009-10, with 44.3 percent graduating from 61.2 percent in 2008-09. The 2009-10 school year however was the last one when Garris was principal.

Also, the large drop in the graduation rate can be attributed to a new state method for calculating it, which follows students from freshman year, as well as those who enter along the way; it does not include those who transfer to adult education.

There had been longtime criticism across the state that the former method allowed graduation rates to be inflated.

The graduation rate at Hillhouse went up to 53.5 percent in 2010-11 under Carolina and it was 53.3 percent in 2011-12, according to the district.

Carolina criticized Harp for not knowing when the new rules kicked in and questioned if she was qualified to run for re-election as a state senator, never mind mayor.

Carolina said he opposed a blanket 160-day rule as unfair to students. He said it also takes power away from the teachers who are the only ones to determine a student's grade. Finally, he said even Garris didn't enforce it with 15 percent of students graduating in 2010 who had more than 20 absences.

In an interview Thursday, Garris said his policy has been misinterpreted.

The retired principal, who is backing Harp for mayor, said the "rule" was "designed as a campaign to improve attendance" and not as a punitive measure. "It was simply an incentive" to get parents and students onboard in recognizing the importance of being in school and on time,

He said students didn't lose credit strictly based on attendance. Garris said if a student exceeded 20 days absence in a given year, the next year he would design a 170-day "contract" with the student to make up the time. Throughout the year there are meetings scheduled with an attendance council and parents put on notice and asked to meet with school personnel.

One contradictory point on the 160-day rule in the Dugas report refers to an email Carolina sent to the head counselor on June 11, 2012 where he officially gave the guidance department permission "to temporarily waive" the 160-day rule for all students back to 2009-10 - Garris's last year - and to reinstate credits lost because of the rule.

Dugas asks why Carolina directed it be "temporarily waived," which implies it was in effect, which contradicts Carolina's statement he had repealed it and said it was evidence of special treatment for athletes. Carolina's lawyer, Michael Jefferson, refers to Dugas's logic as "tortured."

Carolina said counselors needed something in writing to clarify absence rule. He said promoting students with more than 20 absences was in place for all students, after discussions with teachers, not just student athletes.